Alone at Christmas
by LeanneJeanMalfoy
Summary: "Malfoy, is that you?" A story of healing and love. Rated M for language. Disclaimer: all characters belong to JKR
1. Chapter 1

Hermione POV

I walked down the empty hallways. Everyone in Gryffindor had gone home for the holidays. Harry, Ron and Ginny had gone to the Burrow, whereas I had stayed here because my parents were on holiday in Australia. It was already past curfew on Christmas Eve, and if I wanted to get my presents from 'Santa', I would have to go to bed.

_Squeak._

I paused. What was that sound?

_Squeak._

I headed towards the sound coming from the niche in the corner. What little creature would be squeaking miserably on Christmas Eve? Why, a injured one?

_Squeak._

Upon reaching the niche, I peered into the dark shadows. There lay a white ferret with matted fur and bleeding wounds.

"Dear God, what is this?" I exclaimed as I reached my hands towards the little scrap of fur. It backed away uncertainly. "I won't hurt you..." I slowly gazed into its eyes. Why were they so... familiar? The silvery eyes held me captive before the injured ferret squeaked again.

"Malfoy, is that you?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Draco POV

"Malfoy, is that you?!" Granger spluttered. I rolled my eyes. Trust the Gryffindor Princess to find the Slytherin Prince in his injured state. Not that I would call her a Princess. Not when she could hear.

I nodded briefly and winced. Even the smallest movement caused me pain.

"Oh my god what happened did you get thrown out of the window, pulled through a bush and left here oh my god come here" rattled off the know it all. I stared. She really was amazing. How did she know Goyle and Crabbe had turned on me? I scuttled away from her beckoning hands. Hell, she knew what happened, but I was going nowhere near that filth! Not even if she bribed me with chocolate drops or enticed me with promised of a warm bed in a room that wasn't filled with Slytherins that constantly pushed me around because I had failed the Dark Lord's mission. Well actually, I would. Go to her room, I mean.

"Malfoy, I won't bite! The only one here in danger of being bitten is me by you!" I growled low. Fine, you win. I let myself be carried into her arms. Cradled into her chest. I breathed in her sweet and musky scent. Mmmm, what a turn on. Who knew the bookworm smelt like... this? So homey, caring and sweet. Delicious…WAIT WHAT DID I JUST CALL THAT MUDBLOOD? Get a grip, Draco! I growled again.

"What's wrong?" the Mud—Granger looked down at me, her brown eyes concerned. Of course, she must be acting so she could kill me in my sleep later… damn, she was one good actress. I shook my ferrety head slightly. Might as well play along now. She continued walking towards her room. I slowly wriggled closer to the soft lumps on her chest, and I was just about to lay my head on them when she gently put me down on her soft bed.

"I'll be back, Malfoy. Give me a minute." Granger walked towards her bathroom and disappeared. I took this as a chance to observe my sanctuary. Ceiling to floor window? Nice. King sized bed? Brilliant for moi. Sofa? She could sleep there, unless she wanted to sleep with me. Huge bookshelf? Bookworm, duh. And what's that? A Christmas Tree? Wow, Slytherin didn't have one. Lucky, she got her own tree in her own Head Girl room. A heavy weight dropped next to me, causing me to fly into the air and land on the fluffy pillow. I glared at the brown haired girl. Didn't she know how much that hurt? She's never been kicked, cut, thrown out of the window, half roasted on a spit, drowned in a bucket of ice cold water (A/N ice ice baby), Crucioed 10 times, kicked around for five minutes and a Dark Mark tattooed with a knife on my back? She didn't understand. She gently picked me up and dropped me into a tub of warm soapy water. I hissed. The soap smelled of flowers and happiness. Eurrrgghh. I smelled of –GAH—girl. Yuck. She soaped up my back and paws, but left my undersides alone. For 'those' reasons. Prude.

"Dry yourself, Malfoy. The towel's there." I hopped out of the tub, leaving behind water that was coloured reddish brown and smelled of mud. I wriggled back on the soft material, drying myself and displaying my 'package' for at least 10 seconds.

"MALFOY! Stop it, or I'll tickle you!" the great prude stood with her hands on her hips. I winked as sexily as I could at her, or as much an albino ferret could.

"Look, if you'll become reasonable, I'll put this muggle antiseptic cream on your wounds so there won't be any infection. Then I'll heal you with Episkey, ok? This might sting a bit, but just close your eyes ok?" I grunted and closed my eyes. I felt her hot breath on my face. I relaxed. This muggle cream can't hurt as much as the Crucio, could—OH SHHHHHIIIIIIITTTT!

**Author:**

**Mwahhhahaha the muggle-hater finally uses muggle medicine…..Read and review :D gimme ideas for next chappie please? Requests, I'll try and incorporate it into the story ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Dedicated to the reviewers SpIdErbite20, TiaMalfoy1D, WeirdOne and dracosrocketship379. [I love AVPM]**

**Hermione POV**

Ferret Malfoy twisted in pain underneath my fingertips. I grabbed my wand and screamed, "Episkey! Episkey! Vulnera Sanentur! Foulanzo!" As Malfoy relaxed underneath the spells, I cleaned his cuts and splinted his broken paw. He looked sleepily at me, squeaked a few times, and decided he was too tired to continue, and just closed his eyes. He angled his snout hopefully at my pillow, and I rolled my eyes. I had planned on transfiguring the couch into a cat basket, but noooo, the Slytherin Prince right?

"Goodnight, Malfoy," I whispered, picking him up and arranging him on my pillow. He yawned and snuggled into the Sheistmas at Hogwarts, right? And blackmail pictures for the future. Grabbing my wand, I took a picture of him lying there snoring, then changed and fell asleep next to him.

* * *

**Draco POV**

I blinked blearily as sunlight filtered through the lacy curtain... wait. What? Lacy curtain? Sunlight? What? I screeched loudly, then cringed at the unmanly sound I made. It sounded... ferretlike. Suddenly, I remembered where I was and how I got there.

_Granger cooed over me. She splinted my paw and healed my cuts. She even cleaned the infection off my body, washed my fur(with Fruity-Tooty Shampoo by Dettol/Dennol some ludicrous company- I read the label). And the amazing thing was, she didn't care that I had bullied her for the eight years we had been at Hogwarts. She didn't care I was a Slytherin and an ex-Death Eater. She didn't care that I had almost killed Dumbledore, and had stood there when Aunt Bella tortured her. She just saw me as a injured student bullied by his own friends who had turned on him. _A yawn came from somewhere next to me. I looked over. Granger lay on her side of the bed, her breathing causing her chest to rise and fall softly. Her lightly flushed face was innocent and childlike, a small smile playing across her face. _Salazar help me,_ I thought wryly._ I slept with a pretty girl without shagging her. What's happened to me?_

I dragged myself over to her body. I crawled up her neck, sticking my nose in her face. _Wake up, Granger! I'm hungry! _She opened her eyes when I poked her in the cheek. She looked surprised to see me in her face. _Congratulations, Granger! A once in a lifetime opportunity! Wake up to see a ferret lying on your face!_

"Good morning, Malfoy!" she said brightly. "And Happy Christmas Day!" She said, lifting me off her face. All our thoughts about breakfast suddenly evaporated as we both thought of the same thing at the same time.

**_Presents._**

Everything else forgotten, she scooped me up and flew down the stairs. Underneath the Christmas tree was a huge pile of presents split in two. One pile had completely green and silver themed wrapping paper, and one pile had red and gold wrapping paper. I smirked as well as I could as a ferret (in other words, not very well). It's not my fault I have a family of Slytherins. Granger's pile was significantly larger, and her presents ranged from small palm sized boxes to huge boxes as long as her.

"Who's opening first? Me or you?" Granger asked. I scampered over to my pile and eagerly pushed a small green box towards her. "You first? Ok!" I shook my head and pushed the box into her pile. "It's for me?" I nodded. "You've got something for me?" I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Let's hope they're not boxers or lingerie, because they'll go to waste." I winked at her. _You never know, Granger._ She swatted at me. "Amazing how you can be a prat even in ferret form, Malfoy!" She untied the ribbon and gasped. "Draco! Are you sure you can give this to me!?" She lifted out a diamond hanging on a silver chain. I nodded and dragged a card over to her. She read the card.

"Dear Draco,

This necklace is meant to be given to whoever you wish to. Preferably a girl, of course. Your father and I have agreed that we put aside all our differences and let you date whoever you want. Prejudiced as he is, Lucius has (grudgingly) allowed you to give this to anyone, including purebloods, mudbloods, halfbloods of any race and rank.

Use the gift to please a girl! (or boy)

Your loving mother and father

Narcissa and Lucius

P.S. Try and go for Hermione Granger. Me and your father have a bet going on that you land with her."

Grang—Hermione as Mother and Father call her, stared at me open-mouthed. "Your parents didn't plan for Crabbe and Goyle to hurt you, did they?" I shook my head and motioned for a pen and paper(as I couldn't use a quill). She returned in record time from her bedroom. I bit down on the pen and slowly scrawled, "M and F want me married having heirs ASAP." Hermione winced. "Ouch. Poor wife." I glared at her and continued to write, "M wants me 2 marry u and F wants me 2 marry Pansy." She snorted. "Wow. Why does your Mother want me to marry you?" I wrote. "Accio my letters," She immediately obliged and I sorted through them, finding the one Mother wrote to me about heirs.

"Dear Draco,

Happy 18th birthday, Draco! Now that you have come of Wizard age and Muggle age, it's almost time for you to choose a girl to marry! No more dilly dallying, no more one night stands. It's time to get serious.

Lucius would like you to choose Astoria, but I don't really care. The best you could do is marry a famous person so we would rise higher in rank. Such as Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley or someone else like that.

Choose well, darling!

Mother"

Hermione screamed and dropped the paper. I looked at her, tilting my head. _What's wrong?_

"I don't want to have kids yet!" I rolled my eyes. _Open the other presents?_ I thought. She slowly nodded, and grabbed one of her big presents. She tore through the wrapping and screeched.

"Oh my god YES! I LOVE YOU RON!" I huffed._ Not as much as you love me, Princess. _I winked. Using a stool, a cushion and Hermione's head as stairs, I peered into the wrapping paper. Was it a Side-Winder Broom? Was it a Firebolt 2014? Was it a life sized doll of me? _For all I know, I could be the newest toy, _I thought wickedly. I dropped into the wrapping paper and looked. It was a bookcase turned into a cat play station.

**Hermione POV**

If ferrets were able to facepalm, I'm pretty sure Draco would have done that. Crookshanks was in the hospital wing, recovering from a snake bite. He was due to be released later today, and I would be able to welcome him back with a new present.

"Draco, let's go down to breakfast. We can open the rest later." Draco nodded quickly and climbed onto my shoulder. "You like sitting there?" I said, surprised. Draco nodded and draped his tail around my neck. "Well, you'll have to get off so I can change." Draco shook his head and gave a ferrety smirk. "Nuh uh, you aren't watching me change yet. We're not in that point of the relationship." Draco huffed to say fine and dropped onto the sofa. Racing up the stairs two at a time, I changed into a green and red hoodie and blue jeans. I rushed down the stairs and smiled at Draco. "Come on!" He hopped onto my shoulder and we (more like I) ran down to the Great Hall.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Hermione POV**

"Hello, Mudblood." I felt Draco tense beside me. I raised an arm and petted his fur, and continued towards the Great Hall. Draco would probably hurt himself if he defended me, and the person behind me might tell Harry and Ron about me and Draco. "The mudblood has a new pet, don't she?" the voice continued. This time, I was the one who tensed. They can get away with insulting me, since I had great practice ignoring it throughout all my years at Hogwarts, but they wouldn't be able to get away with insulting Draco. Especially if they were previously friends with him. Draco stroked my cheek with his tail, as if telling me to ignore them. "A pet we tortured good!" another voice butted in. I forced myself to breathe, but I couldn't hold it back anymore. The hecklers were definitely Crabbe and Goyle, and their words reminded me of a time I couldn't be there to protect a fellow student against bullying, no matter if he was Slytherin or previously biggest git in the world. I pivoted and stuck my wand in Crabbe's face. Goyle gulped. Crabbe was the biggest out of them. If I could take him down, Goyle would be in trouble.

"Ten points each from Slytherin, attacking a fellow student in animal form. Twenty points each from Slytherin, for leaving him injured in a hole. Thirty points each from Slytherin, threatening the Head Girl." I slashed my wand violently, and a flock of angry yellow birds started attacking them. I had place a charm on the birds' beaks; when they pecked flesh, the wound would heal, but the victim would still feel pain. The birds wouldn't disappear until the victim lost them by running away, and I counted on the fact Goyle and Crabbe were slow.

Draco squeaked from my shoulder. He rubbed his belly with his paw, looking at me with hopeful eyes. I rolled my eyes. "Once a boy, always a boy," I said fondly. And we entered the Hall.

* * *

I headed over the table, where I transfigured a chair into a high chair. I picked up Draco and sat him down. Luna was sitting on Draco's other side, and weirdly recognised him.

"Draco, how was last night?" she immediately asked him. Draco's little jaw dropped dramatically, and looked at me as if to say, WOAH, how did she know? He started complexly squeaking to Luna, hoping she would understand Ferretspeak as well as she saw through his animal form. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. Give me a moment…" Luna rummaged in her bag and stuffed a weird looking contraption with mini dragon ears sewn to the side on her head, and put two weirdly shaped earplugs in her ear. Luna saw me looking at the weird things on her head, and laughed at my face. "Hermione, you should really know what these do. These orifix dragon wings," she touched the dragon wings, "and these rosemary scented earplugs," she pointed to the earplugs, "enhance the user's hearing. They can also help you understand animalspeak." She turned to Draco. "Start speaking, will you?" Draco was currently stuffing his face with the sausages I had cut up into little bits, and squeaked with his mouth full.

"He said he wants to get out of this form!" I sighed. _Couldn't I keep Draco for another day? Please? Pretty please?_ Draco looked at me with big eyes. Nodding sadly, I picked him up and cuddled him.

"Granger! Is that a ferret you've got there?" a deep melodious voice rang out from across the table. I looked up to see the emerald eyes of… what's-his-name Nott. I nervously smiled up at him.

"Yes… it's a ferret…"

Draco huffed from in my arms. Rolling onto the table, he stood on his back legs and walked across the table to Nott. Nott blinked in surprise.

"Do I know you?" Draco rolled his eyes emphatically. It seemed like this was his trademark move when he couldn't smirk. He hissed loudly in Nott's face. _Don't you remember me?_ Nott blinked. "Draco? Is that you? Cuddled in Granger's arms?" Draco nodded. "Your mom was right." Nott raised his voice and shouted down the table to Zabini, who was sitting with Cho Chang, the current girl he was dating. "You owe me 50 galleons, Blaise!" Blaise smacked the table loudly, causing the surrounding silverware to crash to the ground. A kissing couple nearby jumped.

"Dammit, Draco! Any girl but Granger and I would have gotten 50 galleons! Theo, your mother said no gambling for you so HAHA!" Blaise smirked. Theo huffed. "Theodore Nott, you are not going down the same path as your father! You are not gambling your allowance away!" Blaise continued in a falsetto voice. I looked at Theodore. I guessed now would be a OK time to pop the question.

"Can I call you Teddy?"

**Draco POV**

The world has officially gone mad. First, I end up in Hermione's care(which is not a bad thing!), then Luna Lovegood understands my ferretspeak, Theo wins a bet against Blaise, Blaise speaks in a girly voice while sitting next to Cho Chang, and Hermione calls Theo 'Teddy'. _What the fuck? __This world is messed up. _I twitched my whiskers. Hermione was blushing a vivid red as Theo started looking hysterical at being called 'Teddy'.

"W-what?"stammered Theo.

"Come on, it suits you! The name's cute, and you're cute, and also, Harry's grandson, also Draco's cousin, is called Teddy!" I stared at Hermione. The last I heard, Aunt Bella hadn't got a child. And I'm pretty sure Aunt Bella wouldn't give Potter the honor of being _godfather_. Fuck that, no one in my family would be passive in the same room as the Golden Trio. And Hermione had called Theo cute. My language of describing Theo would be loud, annoying, bastard, not-as-good-looking-as-me, poorer-than-me, liver-of-the-tiny-mansion, skinny fry, and many more compliments like that. 'Cute' was not in that category. Or maybe I just wasn't homosexual.

"And besides, Draco agrees you're cute! Right…?" I fell out of the chair.

**Read and review please, with advice! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Draco POV**

Finally. Hermione has started to brainstorm ways to get me back to human form. It's high time to use that clever brain of hers, it's not that fun to be stuck in a ferret form and being forgotten because I was so tiny. _Hey, look down when you walk, idiots! _I dodged the incoming feet. Scurrying forward and hooking my little claws into Hermione's jeans, I climbed up her leg, around her backside(let her have her pride!), onto her back and curled into her neck. I wrapped my tail around her neck loosely, like a scarf, so she and I could keep warm. I could feel her heart beat below my paws. It was really warm, and I purred out of animal instinct. A snicker came from behind. What a moment ruiner.

"Drake, you're losing your touch. What happened to the cold and unforgiving Slytherin Prince? Did he become the warm and cuddly King of Ferrets? All because of one night in the Gryffindor Princess's lair?" Theo smirked. I rolled my eyes and gave him the middle tried to, with earned me another snicker from Blaise. Hermione stuck out her tongue at them.

"I'm not that prudish and holier-than-thou, Teddy." she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. Blaise laughed at a fuming Theo.

"I hate that nickname already!"

* * *

"Ok, come on in," Hermione opened the portrait door and stepped into the Head's room. Blaise and Theo followed quickly. They looked, and grimaced. A kingdom of red and gold. Luckily, my side of the common room and my Head Boy's room was green and silver, so the colours were kind of balanced. Kind of. Hermione opened the Head Girl's bedroom door, and beckoned the boys. Blaise and Theo looked apprehensively at me. I knew that was because they knew I would be very, very protective if they lay a single finger on Hermione's body, and so, I nodded. But slowly.

Hermione dropped me onto the bed and plopped down next to me, which sent me flying into the air again. I squeaked loudly. _Whee._ I scrambled to my claws and rolled over onto my back so Hermione could scratch my belly, but the two boys jumped and landed on the double king sized bed at the same time, and I flew up... and up and up... And Hermione caught me.

"Big, bouncy bed you've got here, Granger," drawled Theo.

"Some one must have been pleased last night," Blaise continued, winking at me. I glared and huffed over to Hermione. My best mates making fun of a girl who took me in when I was injured. Simply. Unacceptable. She was deep in thought, looking through a book.

"Transformation... hmm. This should work," she muttered, tucking a strand of curly brown hair behind her ear. I curled onto her lap. This was probably the last few times I would be able to sit here(without squishing her to death), and I would take the chance. "Counter-clockwise slash, say 'Anima Conterto'. Point wand at subject. Hmm..." she pointed her wand at me and performed the spell. A white flash of light engulfed me. When I opened my eyes, Blaise and Theo were looking horrified at me. I peered into the mirror conveniently placed in the corner, and squeaked in terror. My fur had grown to double the normal size, and I closely resembled a obese Pygmy Puff. Hermione was shaking, and she had her hand over her mouth. I tilted my head. She suddenly burst out in laughter, tears running down her cheeks. I glared at her and hissed. _It's not funny! _She waved her wand again, and took a picture with her wand. I narrowed my eyes and hissed. _Fuck, don't show these pictures to Scarhead and Weasel. _She just laughed and waved her wand, saying 'Conterta Nimana'. I shrank back to my normal size. Blaise tutted.

"You should have left him like that!" he said. "He'd be a hit with Brown and Patil No.1." I stuck out my long tongue at him. Hermione continued to flip through the pages. She murmered quietly to herself. I leaned in closer.

" Canino Conti... wait, only for dogs... Fernand Fetioe... for water creatures... AHA! Figure 8 wand three times, tap rodent's nose three times, say 'Shrouse Fertel' three times... yes!" Hermione grabbed her wand and tried again. This time, there was a rainbow flash, and when I opened my eyes, all I saw was bright spots for a few seconds. I blinked stupidly. _What happened? Where did everyone go? _I looked down. Blaise and Theo were pinned to the wall by a tail. A white, long furry tail that was longer than Hermione. It was my own tail. _Oops._ I slowly moved my tail, careful not to sweep any furniture off the tables. _Where was Hermione?_ A muffled groan came from my abdomen, and something moved. Hermione was squashed under me. Somewhere near my crotch regions. _Double oops._ I tried to roll off her, but I would be in danger of squashing Theo.

**Poof.** I turned back into my normal size. Hermione frowned. "Remind me never to put my face near your private regions, Draco. There was a very awkward smell." I winked sexily at her. She shook her head. "Why am I finding a ferret sexy?" she buried her head in her hands. I nosed her cheek and she looked up. "Fine. Give me a moment to look through the book." I nodded happily. More research, faster human form.

* * *

A few failed attempts later, Hermione found another spell.

"Draco! I think this one is the one!" I rolled my eyes. _Poor me_, I thought glumly._ First expanded, after that, blown up, then covered with mud, turned rainbow and finally, my tail dropped off. Luckily, all of that was reversible. All, except for my pride_. I lay down in Hermione's lap. _At least I'm cute enough to do this! _I winked at Blaise and Theo, who were looking kind of left out. _Well I'm sorry, _I thought sarcastically. _It's not like you noticed when I disappeared! _"Anima Revarto!" I looked up, startled. _Wait, what? _A blue glow surrounded my furry body before I blacked out.

_Help..._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hermione POV**

I dropped my wand and stared at the glowing blue ball in my lap. Which was also Draco. Blaise peeked over my left shoulder.

"Where's Drake?" I pointed at the object. He oohhed. I nodded worriedly. Draco, please be all right. Please.

"Salazar's sweaty, stinky, ugly gym pants, it…he's…" Teddy gaped. I looked back at the blue ball. It was steadily growing larger, and suddenly, the room was filled with a bright white light.

**_Bam._**

And just as quickly, my vision went fuzzy. And then, I saw nothing.

* * *

I blinked my eyes groggily. _Eugggh._ I felt like I hadn't moved nor spoken in a long time. My toes tingled of pins and needles. _Youch. _I glanced to the left of my head to see my calendar. What...? It was the 31st of December already?! Harry,Ginny and Ron were coming back early today! I had been out cold for 6 days?! I moved my fingers, then my toes. There was something wrong. Why couldn't I feel my legs? All of a sudden, there was a heavy weight on my thighs. I looked down.

There lay the esteemed Prince of Slytherin, human form, curled up on my lap. He was sound asleep, his pale blond hair covering his pale but angelic face. _How different he was in sleep and in life_. I thought. _He looks even more handsome like this, innocent and childlike, not the boy who was forced to grow up faster than he should._ I sat up and leaned forward. _Would I dare?_ I decided to take a chance, and slowly outstretch my fingers to touch fair hair. _How long did I dream of running my fingers through those golden tresses? _I thought contentedly. I stroked his hair slowly. He sighed in his sleep. I smiled.

_**Snorrrre.**_I looked sharply over my shoulder. Teddy and Blaise were still asleep, Blaise with his limbs all over the place, and Teddy spooning my pillow. And weirdly enough, he was sucking his thumb. _Bless your cuteness, Teddy. _I thought fondly. _May you never grow up into pinch faced business-wizards._

I sighed again. How quickly we were growing up, I thought. One moment we were meeting for the first time in King's Cross, and now we're almost graduating.

Movement came from the boy in my lap. I glanced back at him. He was awake, and staring at me. I stared back at him, not sure what to say.

"Draco..."

"Hermione..."

There was a awkward silence as we stared at each other.

* * *

**Draco POV**

Hermione was brilliant. She got me back to human form! But she was staring at me so intensely, I had no words to speak. When I finally found something to say, I opened my mouth but...

_**Bam.**_

"Hermione! We're back!" Potter burst into the room, closely followed by Weasley and Weaslette. What was she called again? I racked my brains. Hermione had mentioned her. Gin...Ginny? I turned to Hermione. She had her head in her hands again.

"Potter, it's not what you think." I drawled slowly. The Weasel—Ron was slowly turning redder and redder. He was about to explode when Weaslette—no, Ginny, squealed. She jumped and hugged me and Hermione. I spluttered and coughed, crushed by her strong arms. Hermione was laughing. How she found the capacity to laugh, I didn't understand. Weasley women were one to be scared of, I remember how the Mother Weasley killed Aunt Bella.

"OMG, I knew you guys liked each other. OMG, the sexual tension was soooooo thick…" she turned and smirked Slytherinly at Pothead—gah, Harry. "You owe me 100 galleons, love." Harry was looking sour.

"Anyone but him, Hermione! Anyone but him, and I would be 100 galleons richer! But noooo, fate is cruel and noooo, my money is slipping through my fingers!" he groaned, handing over the money. He adjusted his glasses. "But Hermione, congratulations on getting a boyfriend—wait, are those **more **Slytherins over there?" He stared at Blaise and Theo. Hermione pushed me off her lap gently. Ron became visibly green and the sight of her touching me. Gently.

"Meet Blaise and Teddy," she said happily. She shook their shoulders lightly, and frowned when they refused to wake. "Humph. Sleeping Beauties, all of you snakes." She flounced back to me. I snorted.

"'Mione, that's not how you wake boys in my dorm. This is what you do." I produced my wand from my pocket and pointed at my mouth. "_Sonorus." _I leaned closer to the boys and yelled. "WAKE UP ARSEHOLES!" Blaise and Theo jumped like a mile and screamed. They were really buggering out. I rolled my eyes and reversed my voice. "And that, 'Mione, is how you wake a guy." They were all looking pretty confused, but suddenly, Harry started laughing.

"You may have been the biggest prat in history, but I can't deny the fact you're funny." He stuck out his hand. "Welcome to the club." I hesitantly shook it. And grinned.

"Talking about introductory speeches, here's mine. Harry, you may have been the-boy-who-never-fucking-died, but I can't deny the fact you are brilliant at Quidditch. Ginny," I said turning towards her," Ginny, I'm pretty sure I won't have to say anything to get you under the Malfoy charm." I winked at her. She giggled, saying

"You might have me under the charm, but remember I'm with Harry and you're with Mione." I nodded cheekily and faced Ron. "Ron, I'm sorry for making fun of you in 6th year. You are a fantastic chess and Quidditch player. Friends?" I queried. He was still very red, and he looked like he wanted to kill me.

"NO! You made fun of us all these bloody years! All bloody eight years of our fucking lives!" He glared at Harry. "How could you just be fucking best mates after all of that shit? No fucking friend of mine would make friends with this son of a bitch!" He exhaled fervently. "And I don't fucking care about no background story to what happened, I will get Hermione back!" He looked at Hermione and his face softened. "Hermione, I love you. The ferret," he spat, "The ferret will probably fucking shag you and leave you alone! It's just a fucking one night stand!" Hermione looked back at him.

"Draco's changed, Ron. He's not the arrogant little git he was in third year." she whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. Ron glared at me.

"When he dumps you, you'll know where to find me." he spun on his heel and rushed through the door. I took Hermione's hand and rubbed it gently. She stood there looking lost. A single tear trickled down her cheek.

"Ron... that stupid little hypocrite!" she cried. I hugged her and whispered,

"You'll always have me..." she nodded and smiled sadly. "Besides, I applaud his ability to swear." Harry laughed slowly.

"OI! Guys, you still haven't told us the whole story yet, and how you turned from mortal enemy to sappy love birds!" Blaise whistled from behind me. Theo nodded.

"And get a room before you start making out." We quickly let go of each other. Hermione conjured up some chairs, and they gratefully sat down.

"Well, why don't we start from the beginning?"

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hermione POV**

"Well, it started when I was trying to become an Animagus," Draco lay back on the bed, "I succeeded in transforming myself incidentally, into an albino ferret. Stop laughing, you two! It's not funny!" Teddy and Blaise sniggered. With a glare, Draco continued. "However, I was stuck in that wretched form, and Crabbe and Goyle... well, they tortured me with a bunch of stuff. Crucioed, half drowned, roasted on a barbecue spit, had the Dark Mark cut into my back, thrown out into the snow for an hour, and abandoned in a niche, Hermione found me." I nodded.

"He was, covered in bruises and cuts. What could I do? He was hurt, especially on Christmas Eve, so I took him in and gave him a bath. I also healed him**— **first muggle style, then magically." I smiled, remembering how Draco had _dooked _when I tickled his tummy._ Would he make the same sound if I tickled his tummy now?_. Harry looked at me incredulously.

"You gave him a bath, and you saw his...?" I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I did, with ferrets don't wear clothes, Harry. Besides, I tried not to look, but the pompous brat had to show, and he had to open his legs and play show-and-tell, without the telling," I playfully punched Draco. He pretended to look hurt. Blaise and Teddy whistled loudly. I huffed and said,"Well, Teddy, I'm pretty sure you would have seen his 'package' being in the same dorm as him for seven years." I remarked thoughtfully. Draco screwed up his face.

"Can we stop talking about my dick, please?" Everyone roared with laughter, except me. I tried hard not to blush, but obviously, I couldn't. "Let's move on. So I slept in the same bed as 'Mione, in ferret form of course," Draco backed away from Blaise's condemning look,"And like, we woke up the next morning and opened our presents." Teddy nodded.

"Did Aunt Cissa send you anything?" Draco nodded.

"She sent me a diamond necklace that I could give to anyone I wished, so I gave it to 'Mione, seeing as she was the only other person in the room." Draco blushed. "Instead of giving it to Pans, like I do every year." Teddy and Blaise elbowed each other simultaneously and after glancing at each other, let out identical catcalls. Harry and Ginny looked at them quizzically.

"Are they like, twins or something?" Ginny looked weird. "They're exactly like each other! Just like Fred and George!" Draco shrugged.

"They've been like this for years. I've just gotten used to it. I always said they had a relationship more than just being friends, but nooooooo, no one believes me! Anyway, on the 25th, 'Mione decided to actually start trying to change me, so after a whole day of trial and error, and me getting traumatized by my own reflection," I grabbed my wand and displayed photos behind Draco so he couldn't see, "We finally got a spell that put us into a 6 day coma, and we woke up... like this." Harry laughed at another photo of ferret Draco looking like a rainbow puffball. "What?! Is?! So?! Funny?!" groaned Draco irritably. He followed Harry's gaze and saw the slideshow. "You promised you wouldn't show every one!" I shook my head. _Nope, I never said that! _He looked at the photo. "Oh shit I look terrible." Teddy sniggered.

"You don't say." A tapping sound came from the window. Draco brightened.

"Hawkseye! You're back!" An elegant eagle owl flew into the room and landed on the owl perch. It held out its leg. Draco snatched the letter and unfolded it. A whiff of perfume drifted towards me. I grabbed a couple of owl pellets and dropped them into the bowl, but just as I was about to take my hand away, it pecked my hand viciously. _Ow._

"Dear Draco,

How was your Christmas? I hope you liked your new broom. It's the Silvershot 2015, not due to be released for at least half a year! Anyway, did you give the necklace to anyone yet? I hope it wasn't to Pansy Parkinson, that girl is awfully ugly, do aim for someone like Hermione Granger!

Anyway, tomorrow is our New Year's Party, do try and invite some real friends this time. If you want, go to the New Year's Ball today? It begins at 6. Formal dress, the ice mansion.

Do try and come!

Your loving parents

Narcissa and Lucius"

Draco looked up from the invitation. "Well obviously, as there aren't anyone else I'd invite, and not allowing you to go after 'Mione saved my life, how can I not force you to**—"**

**"Oh. My. Godric. Gryffindor.** Did we just get invited to a Malfoy ball!? Ginny squealed. "They are legendary! Everybody cool gets to go!" I rolled my eyes. Oh no. Not another effort to look pretty. Harry sat there open mouthed. Blaise smirked. Teddy rolled his eyes.

"Seems like the boy who never shuts up has finally gone silent!" I glared at him. "And his idiotic girlfriend has sealed her lips!"

"Do. Not. Insult. My. Friends. Teddy." Teddy gulped.

"She's not kidding." Blaise muttered. "Remember 3rd year?" Draco winced, touching his cheek.

"I swear, I still have a yellowy bruise from that!" I flushed.

"I didn't hit you _that _hard, did I?" I muttered. I replayed the scene in my head. "I didn't hit you that hard, Draco you diva!" I slapped his chest. He rolled off the bed, moaning about why women liked to slap men so much. I rolled my eyes and pulled him back up. When we were back to normal, Draco cleared his throat.

"Well, are you guys going to the ball tonight?" Draco asked impatiently. Everyone nodded excitedly, except for me. I just didn't know what to do. Ginny saw me hesitating. "We are going shopping! Right now! Bye guys!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.

**_Oh no._**

**_Oh no._**

**_Oh no._**

**Not shopping.**

**Draco POV**

What is it with girls and shopping? They buy all they like, but then afterwards when wearing their new robes, call them 'ugly' and 'gross' where they really are beautiful. And then they never wear them again. The only girl I have seen wearing the same robes everyday is 'Mione, or maybe that's because she has good taste and only wants to spend money on her special occasions.

In other words, any occasion where I am present.

In fourth year, Blaise described her as 'your first erection'. Oy. That was impliying everyone found her pretty. Yes, maybe she did change from boring as fuck bookworm into a fun, exciting and pretty lady that danced with Viktor Krum. Mmmm. Delicious. But after that, she somehow morphed back into the ugly girl nobody cared about.

'Mione had good taste, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to afford the usual robes rich pureblooded witches wore, whereas I had too much money and could buy her anything I wanted. I knew she would decline me paying for her, but would she turn down an offer to shop with me? Just don't make it boring, don't tell me about the history of every single piece of cloth!

Harry, me, Theo and Blaise rushed out of the room after the two girls. I could hear 'Mione's shrieks of fear as Ginny dragged her onto a carriage.

"Accio outing bag!" I roared, running towards their carriage. I dashed across the courtyard and grabbed the door. "HARRY, BLAISE, THEO! Hurry the fuck up!" Ginny was trying to tell the horses to go, but as they didn't understand what she was trying to say, she didn't succeed. The three boys caught up and jumped into the carriage. I jumped in and closed the door.

"Harry Potter, you will leave me and Hermione on our own for five hours so we can shop." Ginny glared at her boyfriend. I squeezed in next to 'Mione.

"Why?" I queried.

"Because its bad luck for you to see your date before the ball!" Ginny snapped. I raised my brows.

"I'll just tag along outside in the waiting rooms, you can change and choose in the clothes rooms." I casually replied. Ginny looked confused.

"In the shops I go to, there aren't any clothes rooms." I rolled my eyes.

"Wake up woman, you're going to a Malfoy ball. You can't just wear normal ball clothes!" I scoffed. The carriage slowed and stopped. I opened the door and jumped out. We were in Hogsmeade. Ginny was about to pull 'Mione to the shops, but I stopped them. I put my fingers to my mouth and whistled.

"What are you doing?" 'Mione looked confused. I shushed her.

"Wait." A few seconds later, a sleigh pulled by four white Pegasi flew down from the cloud. Ginny and 'Mione squealed in delight.

"IS THIS FOR US?!" They screamed in happiness. I sighed.

"No, it's for the Queen of England. Of course it's mine!" The girls ran over and petted the horses.

"Well, Malfoys do need to get the best of the best…" Harry joked from beside me. I patted his back, agreeing. Blaise and Theo were ahead of us already, and sat down in the back. I strolled over to the front seat and called to the girls.

"SUP! Come on, we'll never get there if you're going to pat the pegasi!" The girls walked back giggling over the euphoria of patting magical horses. Really, I didn't understand them. "All aboard! Wizarding France!" I yelled at the pegasi. With a soft **_whoosh, _**the sleigh flew into the air. I smiled proudly as everyone oohed and aaahed at the view. It was good being a Malfoy heir.

* * *

**A few minutes later…**

"Right! Who's ready for shopping!" I called. 'Mione groaned from beside me. I patted her back. I hated shopping too. Ginny pointed at the shops next to us.

"I can't afford any of the clothes here!" I looked quizzically at her.

"Oh dear, you can't? Don't worry, all expenses paid…." I pointed at myself. "here." Everyone gaped at me. I scoffed again. "Come off it. Harry, have you opened the Potter vault yet?" He shook his head. I tutted. "Your vault only has your parents money. The Potter vault has all the treasures of the Potters. Of course, no one has more money and riches than me, but then yeah," I shrugged "no one is perfect, unlike _moi_." Theo snorted.

"Hah! 'Perfect'. More like ferrety!" I glared at him.

"Watch it, Theo! I'll send you a Weasley surprise….." Theo still had nightmares about being sent up with a firework, his punishment from the Weasley twins in fifth year. That, was my blackmail option. "We'll visit La élégance , Frills and Trims, and the Men's Shop first. Remember, Paris is clothes city. We'll go to Milan for handbags and such." But it was no use. Ginny was already off, pulling 'Mione behind her. I sighed. You can never get in the way of a Weasley Woman, can you?

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**Read and review! Not posting until I get 5 more reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hermione POV**

"Ginny, stop! I need to catch my breath!" I gasped like a fish out of water. Ginny had dragged me to at least five shops in Paris, trying every single robe possible. And she got her robes. But I didn't like any of them. Blaise and Theo, they left as soon as Ginny started rambling about dresses and stuff. They said they wanted a coffee, and escaped to the nearest wizarding Starbucks. _Lucky them, _I thought glumly. I yelled at Ginny's rapidly moving back.

"Gin!" Ginny sighed. She really wanted to continue shopping. But I needed a break.

"Fine. Two minutes rest, then we're continuing!" I sat down on the bench, sighing gratefully. _These Parisian people do know where to put their seats!_ Harry sat on my other side, but Draco glared at him until he got up. Then he sat down in his spot.

"You ok?" he asked quietly, his silver eyes stormy. "I don't like shopping either. It's too… boring." I nodded gloomily.

"But this is Ginny. I have to go shopping with her."

"We don't have to, we can sneak away while she's snogging Harry..." he gazed at me excitedly, his eyes suddenly sparkling with mischief. I shook my head.

"She's a Weasley. She'll get her way eventually." Draco sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"Usually, I just order things online on . It's easy and ultimately, good looking." I silently agreed with him. What's wrong with Polyvore, Amazon, Sparkles or Topwitch?

"OK! Back to shopping!" Ginny stood up and brushed off invisible dirt from her dress. "Let's go!" I grabbed her arm quickly.

"Gin, slow down there. I want to try some muggle dresses." Ginny didn't even look surprised. I brought her to all the muggle shops last time we had a party.

"I'm spending more time in Wizarding Paris though, see you later!" Ginny said brightly. She dragged off Harry. "Have fun in Muggle Paris!" Draco groaned behind me. This time, I was the excited one. What would Draco do in Muggle Paris? The old him would probably pretend to choke to death, whereas the new him… I didn't know. Besides, I knew a few shops that had brilliant clothing. And weren't expensive as hell.

**Draco POV**

"First, let's visit _Ala Carte._" Hermione walked briskly towards a large shop with glass doors and windows. She slowly pushed open the door. I followed behind her. "Monsieur Detroix? Antonio?" Dark shapes filtted behind the curtain at the back. She slowly tiptoed towards the moving curtain. "Hel—"

"Mademoiselle 'ermione!" A rich voice exclaimed happily. A short, fat man with a perfectly waxed moustache stepped out from behind a curtain, but a young youth rushed past him first. He looked kind of like a younger version of Nott Sr. I immediately put up my guard. They were Muggles, but I didn't trust them with 'Mione.

"'ermione! Mi amore!" The boy hugged 'Mione tightly and was about to kiss her on both cheeks when I pulled her away, glaring at the guy. 'Mione was with me. Not with the rest of the world.

"Draco, what are you doing?" she hissed at me. I wrapped an arm around her waist, saying,

"You're with me. If the press sees you with me but another guy kissing you, it would be on the front page saying that I'm stalking you." That was the reason, right? _Right?_Hermione nodded uncertainly. I had a feeling she didn't believe me and would ask me more later.

"'ermione, what are yoo here for?" the guy, or Antonio, asked. 'Mione smiled.

"I'm going to a ball in a really cold place," she replied. "I don't want anything too fancy, revealing or old though." Antonio rubbed his palms together and smiled.

"Jeanne, Cecile, Yvonne, any ideas?" Three girls magically appeared from behind the curtains. They scrutinised 'Mione.

"Oui!" They started yabbering away in French, pointing and using complicated hand gestures. Antonio clapped his hands and said something back.

"'ermione, zey 'veell be back in a momento." He led her towards the changing room. "Wait 'ere, zey will bring you ze dress." 'Mione slipped into the room and I sat on the soft couch and waited.

**Five minutes later…**

The three shopgirls came back with yet another box of clothes and shoes. I rolled my eyes. Poor 'Mione. She would be bored to tears, if not dead already. Random French sounds floated out of the room. I could hear the four girls agreeing about something, then 'Mione giggling. The shopgirls once again carried the boxes out of room, slyly slipping a glance at me as the walked by. I winked sexily at them. They giggled and ran out of the room. I smirked. _Charming anyone I want, anywhere, anytime, anyhow._

The girls ran into the room, jabbering excitedly about something. They were holding a really big box. I raised my brows. A _**poufy**_dress? Totally not 'Mione. But whatever, if she wanted it, she could have it.

**Thirty minutes later**

"I'm done!" 'Mione's exuberant voice drifted through the door. I grinned. Finally, the first part is over!

"Can I come and see you?" I asked. She yelled back

"Come on in wait..." I didn't even hear the wait and just walked in. And stared.

'Mione was wearing close to nothing. Her chosen dress was already packed away into her box, and she was starting to wear her normal clothes. She had her back to me, so she didn't see me at first. This was the first time I had seen her even remotely close to naked, and I took my chance well. Her shoulders- perfect for draping my arm around, _as a friend,_ led on to the back of her shapely bust. Her slim waist-

"Draco!" She screamed. "I'm not pretty to look at naked!" She flailed her arms at me, blushing. "Turn around!" I snorted, and obeyed.

"Every woman is good to look at naked!" She laughed, but sombrely said,

"I'm not pretty, naked or not." I opened my mouth but she cut across me. "That's what Ron said." I furrowed my brow. What? That weasel called her ugly? He, is the meaning, of ugly.

"I heard him talk in his sleep when I was at the Burrow." I could hear her sniffing haughtily. "He was rating all the girls in the year on their... 'rack size' and facial features." She slapped the wall forcefully, like she was slapping his ugly ginger mug. _Good for you, Hermione! _I thought proudly. _Give the Wallsel _**(Weasel+Wall= Wallsel, geddit! *Maniac laughing in distance*) **_a good wakeup slap! _

"He said I," I heard her sniff, "I had a decent rack, but my face... my face looked worse than a pug wearing make up and my hair looked worse than a bird's nest," I clenched my fists. _Nobody insults my friends, and live to tell the tale. _She sniffed again. "Since then on, I didn't love Ron anymore." I gritted my teeth as she uttered his vile name. _Blech. Gingers. _"Draco, please... just tell me the truth. Am I... ugly?" I gaped at her broken words. No girl had ever asked me to tell her if she was pretty or ugly. They all just threw their bodies at me and... yeah, not going there. I slowly pivoted until I was facing her.

"Hermione..." she was standing there, looking utterly miserable. She hugged her waist, trying hard not to cry, but a single tear dripped down her cheek. She brushed it away weakly. Another tear fell, until a torrent of salty water was pouring from both eyes.

"Hermione Granger, look me straight in the eye." I walked steadily towards her. She shook her head. I sighed and put one arm and drew her closer, until we were pressed together, body to body. With my other hand, I lifted her chin so she looked at me. I wiped her tears off with my thumb. "Hermione Granger, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, believe a single fucking piece of bullshit that comes out of that Weasel's mouth. You are the most beautiful woman in the world, regardless of race, hair colour, texture, features, or clothes taste." I smiled, thinking about her in a poufy dress. "What matters is what is inside of you. And I've seen that inside. You... _you _saved me after all those years of bullying and teasing and laughing, and that's the most important thing of all. " I stroked her cheek tenderly. "I've never met anyone with such a golden heart, with such a forgiving spirit. And that's the most beautiful thing about you." I looked at her long fluttering lashes, wet with tears. Then I did something to her nobody had ever done.

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I kissed her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hermione POV**

"I've never met anyone with such a golden heart, with such a forgiving spirit. And that's the most beautiful thing about you." I silently cried. Draco was just... just telling me a lie, right? To make me feel better, right? Ron had degraded women to nothing but pretty _or in my case, ugly _faces and sex tools. We were just… replaceable objects. I heard Draco sigh. I shook uncontrollably, trying not to break down in front of him. He hugged me closer and leaned towards me. I waited to hear what he had to say. _Just another soothing comment won't do anything. _I thought bitterly. He didn't even hesitate to open his mouth. _What? _He leaned ever closer, until his nose touched mine.

His silver orbs kept me captive as he stroked my back reassuringly. I couldn't hold in another sob. He was so... nice, so caring. I trembled as the sobs tore through my body. A faint whiff of cologne reached my nose. _Much better than... Ron's deodorant._ Draco closed his eyes, and pressed his lips to mine.

He kissed me.

Fully on the mouth.

I was actually surprised. I wasn't expecting that. I thought Draco would just say 'It's going to be fine' etc. But this. This.

My head was actually spinning from the giddiness of being kissed. Wow.

I timidly returned the kiss, not sure what to do at first. Draco's eyes opened in surprise, like _Dude, you can kiss? _I closed my eyes. I could feel him smiling into our kiss. A slight prodding at my lips brought me to my senses. _Oh, you want me to open my mouth? _I allowed Draco's tongue to explore into my mouth for a few seconds before I poked his back into his mouth. I opened my eyes. He seemed kinda insulted and hurt at being rejected. I smirked inwardly. _I can remember something from watching people snog in the common room! _I nibbled his bottom lip gently, testing his reaction. He moaned slightly, but covered it up quickly. I grinned inside. _My first time making out, and already making the guy moan! _I licked his lips and stretched my tongue until it touched his tongue, and lapped at it. He moaned into my mouth, making me shiver. Mmmm. This time, he nipped at my upper lip and licked my...

"OI! You two! Done with face fucking yet?" A loud voice came from behind me. "It's almost time for part two!" I groaned, but Draco broke off the kiss. I whimpered at the loss of contact. _Just continue, can we? _ He glanced slyly at me, and winked. _We can continue this at the Ice Château. _I blushed. Naughty Draco. "Leave them alone for a few minutes, and they'll start having sex." Ginny continued unperturbed at the glares me and Draco were sending her.

"It's true, they have their *wink wink* animal instincts," Blaise and Teddy chimed in. I shook my head, sighing. Don't put it past those two to come up with 'subtle' innuendos.

"It's not like you've never snogged," I sighed and shook my head. Teddy snickered.

"it's not like you've ever been snogged," He warbled in an abnormally high voice. "Ooh, touchy." I scowled at him.

"Shush, Teddy. Teddies should be seen and not heard." Blaise elbowed Teddy in the ribs and he shrieked. Ginny shook her head at the sight of them.

"You'd never believe they're actually of age!" she sighed. Harry leaned on the doorframe.

"You could say,I'm more _mature._" Harry wiggled his eyebrows. I giggled helplessly, and even Draco started shaking with held in laughter.

"So, the teacher's pet finally makes an innuendo." Draco observed. "Although not in class." I glared at him.

"You better concentrate in class, Draco! Or else…" I trailed off, leaving a dramatic pause. "Or else, you'll find yourself not allowed in my common room." Draco protested.

"But…."

"No buts. Concentrate. Now, are we getting cloaks or what?" I asked. Draco nodded.

"Let's go to La Ermine in Italy. We boys can get our cloaks there, there's a female furs shop right next door." Draco led us back to the sleigh. I hurriedly thanked Antonio, who looked angrily at Draco and said he was trouble. I shook my head and left.

"Let's go!" Teddy ushered me into the front seat, and Draco took it behind me. We took off quickly, and because of the invisibility charm that was cast on the sleigh, none of the muggles saw us. Teddy took this as a chance to start throwing silly things at the muggles, such as Love Strings( that made the two entangled people fall in love), bags of chips and also socks, for some reason. We couldn't stop laughing at the muggles' reactions, even though I used to be one.

It was around twelve, and my tummy was rumbling. "I guess you're hungry?" Teddy muttered behind me. I nodded feverishly. He smiled. "OI BLAISE! Wake up!" Poor Blaise nearly fell out of his seat. "Get the sandwiches in the box, will ya, mate?" Blaise grabbed a takeaway Starbucks box. I eagerly reached out for a sandwich. _Om nom nom._ It was grilled cheese, and somehow it was still hot. _Oh right. We're wizards/witches. _I offered Draco a bite. He looked gratefully at me and chomped down on the rest of the sandwich.

"What! I was only giving you a few bites!" I said, mock angry. He choked and swallowed.

"Sorry, 'Mione." I pretended to scowl, but burst out laughing. He looked confused.

"What?"

"Your face when you choked." I giggled. He shook his head at me.

"Women!"

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After a few minutes of watching the boys pick their cloaks, me and Ginny went to the female cloak shop. Rainbow coloured cloaks, invisible cloaks, feathered cloaks, furred cloaks, leather cloaks, wool cloaks and more danced on revolving racks. It was like a child's dream shop.

"Holy God…" Ginny made a strangled sound in her throat. She grabbed my hand.

"Tell Draco I love him!" She danced off into the racks of clothes. I giggled and called,

"Too bad, he's MINE!" And had a look myself. We were going to a cold place, so a thin cloak with warmth charms would still work ok. I saw a pretty feathered cloak with furs on the inside… an elegant purple cloak trimmed with fur… wool cloaks with feathers on the inside…

"Hermione, how do I look?" Ginny flounced into the changing room with a few flustered assistants holding bunches of cloaks. Ginny was currently wearing a pink and red cloak. I choked.

"No, Ginny. That clashes with your hair." I pointed towards a gold feathered cloak. "How about that one?" Ginny waved for the shopgirls to change her cloak for the turquoise feathered one. I shook my head and chose a few cloaks to try myself.

**_Ding._**

Draco, Harry, Blaise and Teddy walked into the shop.

"Oi, you two! Done yet?" Blaise bellowed from the front of the shop. Ginny and I giggled.

"Don't you dare come and peek at us, we're still choosing!" Ginny sang. I stifled my laughter, looking at a lady walk out of the changing room with a sequined rainbow cloak. Another atrociously fat witch strutted out in a feathery pink cape. Gross.

"Come on! You have to choose! We're going to Switzerland to style our hair, we'll be separating here. We'll see you at the ball, ok? The sleigh's outside, we're Apparating." Draco announced. I yelled back.

"See you there!" Ginny looked kind of worried.

"If they're going to style their hair, what about… us?" I shrugged. She thought for a moment. "Oh my God, yeah, we'll go back to France to that Chignon place Draco was talking about earlier." I blushed. I wasn't listening when he was talking just then; I was too busy thinking about that kiss…

"What hair do you want anyway?" I asked. Ginny grinned.

"I know what _I _want…" I mentally groaned as Ginny started describing everything in total detail.

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**Draco POV**

The girls were going to La Chignon to get ready for the ball (which was in four hours), so we found a place to chill. Namely Starbucks.

"Draco, you haven't tried muggle Starbucks before?" Harry opened the glass doors for me. I walked in suspiciously. "Their coffee tastes better, and they have awesome choices." I glanced at the menu. What is this?! These unfamiliar names… _Mocha, Chai, Slurpee_… what's wrong with muggles? I sighed. Just the usual for me then.

"One black coffee please," I slapped down a Galleon. Harry whacked me on the head.

"You idiot, they use muggle money." He hissed in a low voice. Theo snickered. I shot daggers at them. "It's not like you wouldn't do that," Harry had a point there.

"I'll try that Mocha thing." Blaise stroked his chin thoughtfully. I shook my head. Weirdoes.

"I'll have a caramel latte," Theo tapped his nose slowly. Harry nodded.

"And I'll have a Frappuccino. And your black coffee?" I nodded stiffly.

"That will be twenty five pounds, sir!" The redhead behind the counter batted her eyelashes at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Pay up, Potter!" Blaise poked Harry in the ribs. Harry grabbed his money and paid.

"I'd never imagine the day that I would see Harry in the company of three Slytherins in a Muggle Starbucks!" a voice came from behind me. I turned around. "And with Draco Malfoy too!" It was that dreadful gossiper Parvarti Patil and Lavender Brown. _Blech. The Weasel's snoghog._ I shuddered at the memory of them eating the other's face. Just like what the weasel looked like eating food.

"So, I hear that Hermione is dating Malfoy. Is that correct?" Brown turned her head towards me. I sneered at her.

"It's none of your business, slut." She looked taken aback.

"I'm telling Ron!" She half yelled at me. "He'll beat you up!" I looked coldly at her.

"Then my boxing, fencing, sword fighting, wrestling, tackling and fighting training will finally come in handy. Prepare for your Weasel to leave home white and come home coloured." I turned away from her, meaning to end the conversation. "Good day, Brown." Blaise and Theo were smirking at the shocked faces of the biggest gossipers in town. I sat at their table. "Sup?"

"That, was the coolest pun you ever made…"Blaise guffawed.

"…Hermione really rubbed off her smartness on you!" Theo finished. Harry smiled.

"Everybody in Gryffindor really wants both of them to shut up, but of course, they won't. You've finally put them in their place!"

"Pffft. Doesn't matter. I do that to everyone who gets in my way. Just keep calm but insult them with coolness." I chuckled. Harry handed me my coffee. I took a slurp, and was surprised by the strongness of the coffee.

"You're right. Muggle coffee tastes better." I looked at Blaise and Theo. "How's yours?" Blaise was currently glugging down the Mocha.

"It's brilliant! Hot chocolate with coffee. Yum!" He continued to glug, not noticing the creamy moustache he was sporting. I snorted, as the girls on the other table who were ogling him three seconds ago turned away disgusted. They turned their focus onto me. _Time to play some games_. I winked at them, and looked at Theo.

"How is your tux going on?" I said, watching the girls out of the corner of my eye. One of them were observing our table over a book she was pretending to read. The other two girls busy tapping away at a shiny black box. They were aiming it at me, but I ignored them.

"I still need to choose the socks," Theo chuckled. Blaise spluttered.

"Do not shame us, Theo. Or we will leave you alone for the rest of the night." Harry looked confused.

"What socks?" I shook my head.

"Don't ask."

"Why?"

"Just don't." Harry looked aggravated. "You'll find out tonight anyway." I directed my attention to Theo. "Who are you taking, again?" Theo grinned.

"Greengrass Jr." I choked on my coffee. "Just kidding! I'm taking Luna." I swear Harry and Blaise spat all over the table.

"What?" I repeated. "What what what what?" I stared at Theo. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Theo shrugged.

"She's nice. And besides, apart from a weird comment or two every now and then, she's absolutely sane." I frowned.

"Isn't she dating Longbottom?" Blaise had now seen his reflection in a spoon. "Mamma Mia!" He grabbed a few paper towels from the table closest to us. "I am never drinking mocha again!" He dabbed daintily at the cream on his upper lip. I rolled my eyes.

"Italians," I whispered to the girls on the other table. They giggled and nudged each other. Harry shook his head disapprovingly at me. "Well, we better get ready for the ball. Hermione might dump me if I don't show up in a handsome tux." I said, sighing. The girls looked extremely disappointed that I was dating. _And that is the power of being hot. _I thought, smirking. We stood up and as one, we left the Starbucks.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hermione POV **

When we arrived at the Chignon, we were awed by the elegance of the place. There were white marble columns everywhere, the sound of a fountain came from the center of the Grecian style building. I stepped nervously onto the first step. A chiming bell sounded somewhere in the building. As if by magic, a tall man in a black suit, a shorter one in a white suit and two women in white dresses appeared and walked towards us. The man in black bowed.

"Welcome to ze Chignon," the man nodded regally to us. "I see you are 'ere on reservation of Malfoy?" I smiled at him.

"Yes, we are—"

"Excellent! Come with us to ze Ball procedure. Charlotte? Marie? Pierre?" The two ladies took gestured for us to follow them, and a butler in white held took our bags of clothes from the sleigh. I glanced at Ginny, and quickly caught up with the fast paced ladies.

We marched past multitude of arches, doors and fountains until we got to a certain arch. On the top, it said "Ladies System." It sounded like, a toilet. What?

"Zees is ze room!" Charlotte showed us a white room(what else?) with hooks on the wall and bathing robes in a gold basket. "Pleeze change into ze robe, we shall begin!" I took off my dress and wrapped myself in a fluffy silver robe. It fitted snugly around my figure, and the straps at the side automatically tied together. Ginny had done the same, with a gold robe. Marie opened the door at the end of the room, and a puff of steam floated out. "Walk 'een!" Charlotte walked in and indicated at the large bathtub. I climbed into the steamy bathtub, petals and soap bubbles covering me to my shoulders. Marie twisted open a bottle of bath oils and poured them into the bath. Mmmm. Lavender. And... pumpkin? I looked, confused at Ginny. She grinned.

"The smells of lavender and pumpkin put together are apparently, _arousing_ for men." I blushed, imagining Draco aroused. Heh.

"We shall now start ze hot tub." Marie switched the steam machine on. "We shall leave you, for now." She and Charlotte curtseyed, and left.

"PHEW!" Ginny sighed, leaning back. I looked curiously at her.

"What?"

"I was starting to think they wouldn't leave us alone!"

"Why?" Ginny propped herself up on one elbow, and pointed at me. "Don't play dumb, Hermione! It's not suitable for you." I shook my head, baffled. "What's going on with you and Malfoy? We've caught you snogging, what else have you been **doing?**" Ginny emphasised her point with quote fingers. I blushed.

"Nothing yet. It's just... kissing. That kiss you guys walked in on... that was my first." Ginny stared at me.

"Wait, you're telling me... we walked in on your first kiss?!" I nodded. Ginny slapped herself.

"Oh shit, we're terrible friends." I snorted. "But we are!" I sighed.

"What about you? Been with Harry yet?" Ginny flicked her wet hair.

"Why, yes." she didn't even look embarrassed! "He's quite-"

"Ginny, that's enough," I said, flushing. "I don't want a detailed story of how my male best friend fucked the brains out of my female best friend." Ginny giggled at the memory. I shuddered. "I'll never look at Harry the same way again if you do!"

"But seriously, when are you going to start dating Malfoy?" I shrugged. "And besides, should I call him Malfoy or Draco?"

"Draco. Definitely Draco." I replied, shivering at the sound of his name flowing through my mouth. Ginny smirked. How Slytherin of her.

"Everyone can see you guys are falling in love!" I looked, astonished. "And yes, it really is that obvious—"

The door opened, and Charlotte and Marie walked in.

"Pleeze follow me. We shall go to ze massage room." I picked up my robe and wore it again, slightly trembling as the cold air hit my skin. Charlotte held out her hand. I smiled at her gratefully, and using her hand, climbed out of the bath. We went through yet another high arch.

This room was mainly wood. There were two massage tables, with bowls of essential oil next to them. I sniffed appreciatively. Lavender, rose, coconut… and there were other bowls weird smelling stuff, lemon, rosemary…? I didn't recognise them. There were also a few wizarding plants Neville would have loved… the rare and beautiful Orlando Lemon, a flower that had a lemon inside it, which could be squeezed to use as juice that would sooth skin. Besides that was the Tibetan Primrose, that smelled like fresh strawberries. Weird. But the most brilliant of all was the PolyTeknik Lily, a antural Japanese flower, that would smell as whatever anyone wanted it to smell like. For example, Person A could spray its juice onto his/her skin, and perhaps if Person B loved new parchment, Person A would smell of new parchment to Person B. If Person C loved crisp peppermint, Person A would smell of peppermint to Person B. It was an amazing plant, really.

"Pleeze get on ze tabella, no?" Marie's heavy French accent cut into my thoughts. I clambered onto the left table and Ginny perched on the right. Charlotte was pounding herbs into a purple mixture that emitted silver sparkles. I sniffed the air, wanting to find out what the mixture was. I smelt…mint, witch hazel and… Antarctic lemon? That meant… they were making Felta Concota? A mixture that made your skin smooth as a baby's backside! And also removed all blemishes from the skin!

"Felta Concota!" I sang as Charlotte was about to introduce the mixture to us. "Makes your skin perfect!" Ginny stared at me.

"I didn't know you read about cosmetic potions!" I rolled my eyes. _Of course I didn't! I'd never read about those. _

"No,fgn Ginny. I don't read about cosmetic potions." I tapped my head. "No time for that kind of stuff." Ginny looked quizzical. "It was in our potions book, remember? The same chapter as Amortenia!" she frowned, trying to remember. Ginny looked confused for a moment, then she realized.

"Oh, I never read the rest of the book after Professor Slughorn only taught Amortenia," she said, looking embarrassed. "If I did, I would have used it! All the time!" I shook my head disapprovingly at her.

"Sometimes being a bookworm can have good results, huh?" Ginny nodded, looking ashamed. Charlotte clucked her tongue softly. I had forgotten all about them!

"OK, lie down. We weel start ze massage," Charlotte dipped her hands into the scented oils and coated her fingertips with Felta Concota dust. She motioned for me to lie on my belly. I rolled over and felt Charlotte gently squeeze the area between my shoulder blades. She tutted. "Yoo, are too tense 'ere, 'ere and 'ere!" She tapped my shoulders, back and neck. "You sit bad posture, no?" I nodded, remembering how my mom constantly corrected my working posture, saying my back was too curved and my head too low. "Well, after zees you seet properly!" And then she started to knead my skin.

At first, it felt like my back was on fire, but after the initial pain, I started to feel the knots in my muscles start to loosen and disappear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ginny trying not to laugh as Marie poked her ticklish side again. Charlotte stopped kneading for a moment to squeeze the PolyTeknik Lily juice into a bottle on the table, and added a few pinches of Felta Concota. She shook it well and sprayed it over my back…pffft, that felt good! It was cool and refreshing. Just like a lemon.

"Ze PolyTeknik, what eet smell?" Charlotte asked me. "I smell ze rose and ze Lily." I sniffed the air, smelling the scents that drifted towards me. Mmmm.

"New parchment, freshly mown grass… and peppermint!" I exclaimed, remembering the last times I had said that. "Just like when I smelt Amortenia two years ago." Charlotte looked impressed.

"Yoo steel like ze same tings? Yoo no change?" I nodded, feeling the juices soak into my skin, removing all blemishes. My back no longer felt itchy, the rashes were gone. Charlotte started part two of the massage. "Do not worry eef yoo are tired after zees part!" She pounded and twisted my back fiercely, massaging my muscles and squeezing my flesh. I could hear Ginny grunting and groaning in pain. "Yoo can sleep, eef yoo want!" Charlotte chirped suddenly. Sleep seemed like a good thing to do now. I closed my eyes and drifted off, ignoring the pinches and squeezes on my back…

"Hermione? You awake?" A voice interrupted a blissful dream about me and Draco doing… no. That's private information. Anyway, Ginny shook me until my eyes opened. I yawned and stretched. That was when I noticed our surroundings. The room had changed yet again! It was now a steam room with a ladle and a bucket full of hot water. And I was wearing a stuffy bathing robe, which I changed for a much thinner one on the wall. _Phew, it sure was hot!_

"Let's continue what we were talking about earlier." Ginny smirked at me. "You love Draco and Draco loves you. When are you getting married?" I choked on air.

"Isn't that a bit… early?" I coughed. "Shouldn't we get to 'date' stage first?" Ginny smirked again. She looked like Cheshire Cat.

"Good couples can skip right to the sex stage!" As people say, first comes marriage, then comes sex and finally a baby in a carriage!" I gagged. "I think sex with Draco would be pretty good!" I sighed.

"And how would you know?" I replied. Ginny rolled her eyes like saying DUH.

"Remember how he used to be the Slytherin Sex God?" I nodded. "Well actually he still is but he just doesn't sleep with others anymore. I got the information from… well let's say, a primary source." I nodded slowly. _Draco slept with others, Draco slept with others_, my head continuously rang with the repeating message. _I'm not going to be his first…_

**Draco POV**

I'm not usually one to soak in a bathtub, but when an Italian guy is extremely emotional about sitting in a tank of hot water, what else can I say? Blaise was forcing all of us to go to a 'Man Spa', and prepare for the ball. To be honest, I'm pretty sure he mixed up 'Woman Spa' with 'Man Spa', since there was pink everywhere. When I had (politely) declined the process of lying in a hot tub, he looked like he was going to cry, and so I cracked. Stupid emotional Italians.

"Drake! Hit this!" Theo chucked a ball at me. I brightened. Ball games were always fun. I turned around to look at the ball… which was snarling in the air. Beast Balls. I grabbed a bottle of soap and whacked it like I would punch Weasel's face. Which was really, really hard.

**_Ping. Ping, Ping. Ping ping. _**The Beast Ball ricocheted off the wall, snarling like a dog. Blaise scowled at it. He waved his wand and it disappeared.

"Awww, mate. Don't be so mean!" Theodore pouted. I did my 'sad and bored' face, trying not to laugh. Blaise shook his head regally.

"We must have peace and quiet! No hitting balls." I snorted, laughing. Harry grinned.

"I have a better idea than Beast Balls…" he said, grabbing his wand and twirling it in the air. He summoned a Golden Snitch, and let it fly. I gaped at him.

"What! You were allowed to keep your Snitches?" I was dumbfounded. He nodded, smirking at my expression. I sulked. "Not fair!" It flew close to me, darting in and out of reach at random. I held out my hand, snatching, grabbing at the air. Ugh. It got away.

"Gentlemen, it is time to start dressing for the ball…" The butlers outside the door said. "We will open the door in a moment, sirs." I _Accio_ed my bathing robe, and put it on.


	11. Chapter 11

**Draco POV**

"Drake! Wake up, mate!" I could feel someone shaking me roughly. "Oi, sleepyhead! It's time to dress, or Granger won't see you!" I shot up, looking around wildly. Hermione was here? Where? I looked around wildly. On my legs? There was a short haired person on my knees. Hermione cut her beautiful hair?! I rubbed my eyes and blinked groggily. Nope. It was just Blaise was sitting on my legs.

"Gerroff, you lying, lazy prick." I mumbled, pushing him onto the floor. He landed with a bump, rubbing his arse and wincing.

"Dude! That hurt!" he complained, limping towards his own massage table. "I was just going to wake you up! Give me some credit, man!" I rolled my eyes. I didn't push him that hard, did I? _Italians and their acting. _I looked around the room. Theo and Harry were sitting on the armchair, watching me._ Creepy pedophiles. _The door creaked open slowly. A pretty girl strolled in, pushing a trolley with our suits/dress robes on top. I snatched my robes and flung them onto the bed carelessly.

"I hope Ginny matches my suit!" Harry was looking kind of worried. "What if we clash and your mother tells us to stay apart because we don't look good together?"

"Heh. That'll never happen." Theo snickered, remembering last year. "Last year, Aunt Cissa wore pale yellow robes, and Uncle Lucius wore dark purple. And they still danced together the whole night." I shuddered, remembering the terrible colour mismatch throughout the whole crowd. Harry sighed.

"Well, I guess-"

"Shuddup, Potter. You're the boy-who-fucking-lived. She'll let you do anything." Blaise got straight to the point. "Calm your man-tits, you and Red can make out all you want." Harry blushed. Waving my wand, my dress robes split open at the back. I could feel everyone's shocked gaze on me. Shaking my head at their stupidness, I stepped into the robes and repaired them. Smartest way to dress, no?

"I know I'm hot, mates, but do you have to stare? You have your respective dates to goggle at. Forget about me." I drawled, running my hand through my hair, tousling it into that hairstyle that made girls(and a few guys) blush and faint. "It's not like you can catch me anyway!" Blaise snorted, dressing behind his curtain. I smirked.

_I know, I know._

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**Draco POV**

Me and Harry fidgeted at the foyer of the Ice Mansion. The party guest were already arriving, and I could hear a low murmur of voices coming from the ballroom. Blaise and Theo had ditched us ages ago, going to dance with Chang and Lovegood. Mother and Father were protrying to stop them from spiking the punch, but since they're Slytherins, they'll probably find a way.

I gulped nervously. Our dates should be arriving by now. I wondered style Hermione came as; The elegant bookworm, the Gryffindor Princess or the Muggleborn Queen? Anyhow, I knew she would be stunning. Any style was ok to me, as long as my mother would approve of her. A swish of elegant robes and the tap of boots alerted me of someone's arrival.

"Draco, what a delight to see you!" crooned a voice. Mother. I swiftly turned faced her. And what a surprise. Father was behind her. "And is this... Harry Potter?" I could see Harry looking nervous as he adjusted his glasses over and over again. Anyone would think that he and I were the couple.

"Mother, Father." I nodded my head towards them. "This is Harry Potter." Harry bravely smiled and held out his hand.

"Glad to meet you, Mr Potter." Father drawled lazily, shaking his hand. Harry looked terrified for a moment, then forced a smile.

"And we meet again, Mr Potter!" Mother declared, waving her wand. The lights illuminating the ice changed colour, and 'ooohs' came from the dance hall. "And are you dating Draco?" Harry choked.

"Mother!" I yelled. She turned to me, smiling, as if to say she approved. "No, I'm dating someone else, and Harry is dating Ginny, and... and Blaise and Theo are in the ballroom! Um, go and annoy them!" She raised an eyebrow at me. I panicked. "Oh did I say annoy them? I meant talk to them!" A throaty chuckle came from somewhere. Father? Really. I stared at him. Never, in my life, had I heard Father laugh. Or smile.

"Malfoys do not panic, son." I rolled my eyes. Him and his old ways.

"Well now they do!" I threw up my hands in despair. _Why me..._

"Well, then, Draco, who are you dating?" Mother placed a hand on my shoulder. Harry was looking awkward. "Is it-" she looked at Father. "Weeeellll, is it?" Father scowled.

"Do not let me down, son. I'll lose 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 galleons if you do." I smirked. Sad, father. Sad. I opened my mouth to tell them who it was, but a jingling sound came from the mansion doors.

Our dates had arrived.

"Draco, who are you taking? Is it Astoria, or Pansy, or..." Father asked impatiently. I swallowed. Father would not be pleased.

"It's..." A small hand hooked into my arm. Hermione.

"Me." Hermione blushed as I drew my arm around her waist. "H-Hello, Mr and Mrs Malfoy." Mother looked triumphantly at Father.

"AHAH! I told you! Draco would bring home a different, famous, beautiful, un-puglike, girl!" Mother crowed. "YOU CAN GO SUCK A DICK!" I winced. Since when did Mother say that? She must have started reading that fanfiction thing. Stupid Muggles writing stupid stories. I found it on my web history. Euuugh. I do not support that. I turned to Father. He was looking like he just ate a lemon. All sour. His face was screwed up, and his eyes were squinty.

"Dammit. Why am I even married to this evil woman?" He moaned, thrusting a hand into a pocket and pulling out a velvet bag. "Here, 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 galleons." He waved his wand and a number of gold coins flew out of the bag, flying down the corridor into presumably Mother's purse. Mother cackled. Harry, Hermione and Ginny were gaping at the sight of so much money.

"Pssst. Draco. Are your parents always like this?" Hermione muttered out the corner of her mouth. "Do they always bet on you or something?" I snickered.

"Yes. These are my true parents. The Gamblers." Harry chuckled, linking arms with Ginny, who was trying to stay composed while laughing.

"Let's just sneak away now…" Ginny giggled. I nodded, slowly backing away from cackling Mother and Father. And I got my first good look at Hermione.

She. Was. Stunning.

She looked **radiant.** She was actually shining with pure happiness to be holding onto my arm, and looked so pleased to be here right now. She had chosen a beautiful green A-line dress with a silver sash- I smirked at the obvious Slytherin colours- matched with diamond studded heels. The neckline was low, and I could see some cleavage, but not too much. I felt my dear friend down there move a little. She was beautiful. The way the necklace I gave her lay on her neck made me want to pick her up, take her to a room and…

OK, getting too _deep _there. Anyway, she was looked absolutely wonderful and—

"Draco? Hello?" Hermione waved a hand in front of my face. I realised I was drooling, and sucked it back in. "Are you all right?" She looked concerned. And hot. Harry and Ginny were waiting patiently for us to finish, and nodded at us.

"Let's make our entrance," I offered her my left arm, and she took it. "It's about time everyone saw me and my very beautiful date." Hermione blushed. I strode forward towards the large doors, Hermione skipping along beside me. "Ready?" She nodded. I stepped into the automatic opening zone, and the heavy ornate doors creaked open. Harry and Ginny followed suit.

"Woahhh…" Hermione whispered as the doors opened. Enchanted snow was falling from the ceiling, and all the furniture was made out of ice. There were frozen fountains in the corners of the room, and a string quartet played music on ice platforms floating in the air. _Mother sure has outdone herself this year, _I thought. _Even Hermione's impressed. _Guests were chatting amiably while waiting for the Malfoy heir and his date to turn up(namely moi), and now they were all facing me.

I scanned their faces. What were they expressing? Shock, anger, envy, wonder, spite… many people were displeased at my choice of date. I could hear low mutters throughout the crowd.

"Look, he's brought in a Mudblood!" I glowered. _I don't care that she's not pureblood._

"They're standing with Harry Potter. **Harry Potter!" **I smirked. _Yes, we are friends now._

"That mudblood is pretty." _You don't say._

"Ugh, she is _not _worth him. I should be there." _Actually, no, I asked her. Therefore, she **is **worth me._

"Well, the Gryffindork cleaned up, I guess." _That sounds like Pansy or Astoria. Bitches._

"Shaming the family! What would Lucius say?" _He would look very sour, because he lost the bet._

"Draco Malfoy, and Hermione Granger! Harry Potter, and Ginevra Weasley!" The announcer announced. _Yes, my description is not very good. _A small smattering of applause came through the hall. "And now, we shall have the Opening Waltz!" Me, Blaise and Theo walked towards the dance floor with our dates. I jerked my head over at Harry, and he scuttled over, looking terrified. _Didn't I teach you to dance just then?_ _Every year, only the 'youngsters' opened the Ball. The 'youngsters' opened every dance. Not fair_. Hermione put one hand on my shoulder and the other hand on my outstretched hand.

"I remember this!" she whispered excitedly. "Yule Ball!" I nodded. The very same. I remembered her then, in her finery. I think that was when everyone fell in love with her. Including me.

The quartet struck up the Waltz. One, two, three! We twirled, stepping around, tapping the floor with our heels. And again? One, two, three! We turned, twisted around, and I threw her into the air, catching her perfectly. She giggled, looking at me. The quartet continued playing.

"Is this fun?" I whispered in her ear.

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**Hermione POV**

"Is this fun?" Draco whispered in my ear. I shuddered slightly at the feel of his hot breath on my neck. He smirked knowingly, and continued dancing.

"Y-yes, it is," I said, my voice hitching. His hand was on my waist, and gently guided me into the correct places. "I never though dancing would be fun." Draco nodded. _How strange, seeing as he's a perfect dancer. _

"All pureblood children learn to ballroom dance, tap dance, ballet dance, Russian dance and more before they're the age of 11. It's what we learn before we go to Hogwarts." He explained, as if reading my mind. The quartet increased the speed and changed the style of the music.

"What?" I asked confusedly. Draco laughed.

"It's the second part of the opening dance. First you had the Welcoming Waltz, now you have the Broken Tango." He and I stood to the side as Blaise and Cho had their little duet solo. Cho elegantly twisted and turned, jumping into the air and landing safely into Blaise's arms. The crowd applauded. "It's Theo's turn," Draco whispered again in my ear. Just as before, I felt a shudder go up my spine, and blushed. "We'll be going last." I shook my head, moaning. _Why me?!_

Luna gracefully bent backwards as Teddy leaned forward. She clasped her hand to Teddy's shoulder, and the other to his other hand. Teddy put his hand on her waist, and they both turned their heads sharply towards their stretched hands. They stepped twice towards the side, Luna twirled and leaned back on Teddy's arms, and spun around as Teddy clapped twice. They used the last six beats of their solo to point their toes and walk towards Mr and Mrs Malfoy, and the very last two beats to curtsy/bow. The crowd clapped eagerly. Harry and Ginny stepped up, and the crowd went wild. Harry flushed, having only danced once in the Yule Ball. Ginny rolled her eyes and led him into the tango. She twirled, one, two, three, four, five times, and leaned back on Harry's chest. Harry seized the moment and threw her into the air quickly, catching her. I sighed. We'd never be as good. Draco put a hand on the small of my back.

"We have the longest solo out of all," he murmured into my ear. "Just dance what you want to do, and I'll cope." I punched him playfully.

"Hey, I'm not that bad at dancing!" He smirked.

"We'll see, Hermione. We'll see."

The quartet quickened even more. _What in the name of Merlin's baggy undergarments would they be doing that for?! _Draco led me out into the dance floor. I pressed my chest to his, arms out, in a tango style. _Five, six, seven, eight! _I walked five steps towards the right, spinning on Draco's arm. Draco caught along, and leaned backwards as I did. _Oh my god, he is sooooo hot just like that. Ugh, I could look at him allll day. _I snapped back to attention as Draco pulled my against my chest again. Twirling again, I leaned backwards as he bent forwards, releasing an arm. Draco turned, stretching out our arms. He grabbed a rose from a nearby bouquet, and clamped it in between his teeth. Blaise and Teddy catcalled and whistled loudly as I blushed. _Two can play a game, Draco__!_ I gazed up at him brazenly and bit my lip. **_A very useful tip from Ginny._**I recalled, watching Draco's eyes turn a molten dark silver. He smirked, realising I was playing back. _Continue later? _I silently asked him cheekily. He winked. I flushed yet again, and was thrown bodily into the air. _Hey! _Draco caught me and wrapped his arms around me, ending the dance.

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There was quiet. Then, a loud screeching voice interrupted the silence.

"DRACO! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DANCED WITH THAT MUDBLOOD!"

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**(A/N) Do me a favour and press the review button please?**


	12. Chapter 12

**(A/N) Thank you to shaymars and iknowyou2 for giving me the idea for this chapter! Enjoy! :D**

**Hermione POV**

"DRACO! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DANCED WITH THAT MUDBLOOD!" The voice rang through the hall. I gasped, shocked. What? Was there still mudblood prejudices after the War? After we won and helped all the purebloods up, off the dust? Tears pricked the corner of my eyes. When I was younger, and Draco had constantly called me a mudblood, I had cried incessantly. Ginny, Ron and Harry couldn't console me, nobody could stop my crying. I remembered back in third year, I had almost wanted to throw myself out of the window because I was having such a bad day. First Ron and Harry wouldn't talk to me, Draco and his friends called me Mudblood bitch, and Pansy Parkinson split the bottom of my bag, causing all my books to fall out. Permanent ink stained all my new parchment, and the smell was totally ruined. I overheard Lavender and Parvati gossiping about me and scheming to bring me down, and get Harry and Ron to date them, and that didn't help my mood.

However, I had to stay alive to help Buckbeak and Hagrid, and resolved to put all into the back of my head.

"DRACO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT FILTH?!" a loud shriek ripped through my memories. Draco was trembling with rage. His beautiful silver eyes had turned stormy grey with anger, completely unlike what I had ever seen. He clenched and unclenched his hand repeatedly, while turning aroud to see the heckler.

It was Astoria and Pansy.

"You two b—" Draco started to shout, but two robed figures strode out in front of us.

"Pansy Parkinson! Astoria Greengrass! How dare you insult a guest in front of her host and hostess!" bellowed an irate Lucius Malfoy. I shivered. He was quite scary, very different then what he was just then. The funny old man turned into a yelling demon.

"You should be ashamed! Making a fellow guest feel unwelcome on her first visit! May we forget our differences for a night?" Mrs Malfoy exclaimed. "And you should know that Miss Granger is just the same as you on the inside! Why, one might say she acts and looks like a model pureblood child!" Pansy glared pointedly in my direction.

"And you're saying you support a Mudblood touching Draco?" she sneered. "Instead of a pureblood girl like me and Astoria dating him?" Astoria looked down her nose at me.

"And letting that filth into Malfoy Manor!" Astoria leered, fanning her face delicately. "Dirtying the very air we breathe!" Mrs Malfoy seemed to grow taller.

"Are you insinuating that Draco has bad taste in women? And that Miss Granger is dirty filth that doesn't deserve our attention?" she stared at them. They didn't back down at all.

"Yes. Her race shouldn't even be ALLOWED to attend Hogwarts." Astoria made her points clear.

"And they shouldn't be allowed to steal wands and magic from us." Pansy was about to hex me when Draco disarmed her.

"Then leave. We don't like guest who are rude and insult other people." Mrs Malfoy said coldly. The girls didn't move at all, just glowered at me. Mr Malfoy tapped his cane on the floor impatiently.

"Well? You're leaving, aren't you?" He pointed towards the door. "The exit's that way." Astoria started to protest, but Draco silenced her with a piercing look.

"Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, insults Hermione without going through me." He put a protective arm around my waist. "Over my dead body, will anyone harm her." Pansy shrieked in horror.

"The mudblood's poisoned him!" she gasped, pointing at me. Angry muttering escaped from the crowd. I could hear a couple of people exclaiming how rude they were to insult the girl who was the brains of the Golden Trio, the chosen date for the Malfoy heir. Shrugging off Draco's arm, I stepped forward.

"Pansy Parkinson, I don't understand you. All my life, I've been told purebloods have better manners, better families, and better lifestyles than Muggleborns, but just looking at you, I'm told different. Tonight, I came here," I faced the crowd, "I came here, knowing that I would be judged by all of you, knowing that I would be despised by at least some of you," a few chuckles came from the crowd, "I put our past behind us, Pansy. I saw that Draco had learned how to forgive and forget. And so I tried to make friends, for Draco's sake. But no. You had to bring up our past, you had to remember who I was. So today, I learned that purebloods can be just as barbaric," at this I sneered and did quote marks, "as Muggleborns." The crowd clapped, cheering me on. Mrs Malfoy nodded, agreeing.

"You've made enough mayhem today, Astoria, Pansy. Leave, and we'll forget about this." Mr Malfoy hissed. Astoria opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, as if pushed by an invisible force, they started to slide backwards.

"Serves them right, foul mouthed, pureblood petty hypocritical little pieces of shitty fucking bitches!" The guests chuckled and a few rowdier people clapped at Draco's choice of words.

"Draco, mind your language!" Mrs Malfoy looked at him disapprovingly. I looked at her in amazement.

"Thank you, Mrs Malfoy, for helping me." Mrs Malfoy smiled graciously at me.

"It's ok, Hermione. But call me Narcissa, preferably Cissa, from now on, could you? 'Mrs Malfoy' makes me feel **old**." Harry and Ginny walked over, standing next to us.

"And while we're at introductions, call me Lucius. I will not tolerate anyone calling me 'Lucy', 'Lucifer' or 'Uncle Cius'." Mr Mal—no, _Lucius,_ said smoothly. Theo and Blaise turned almost suddenly.

"OI, OLD MAN LUCIFER!" Lucius winced, hearing the name echo around the whole house. I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter. Those two! Just like a Slytherin, less funny and less famous Fred and George. I had to introduce them to each other sometime in the future.

The crowd dispersed, seeing that the drama was over.

"Hermione, are you all right?" Draco looked at me, concerned. I shook my head.

"I'm all right. Do you want a drink? I'm feeling kinda thirsty." Draco nodded quickly. He rapped a passing Blaise on the head with his knuckles.

"Blaise! Get us a drink, could ya'?" Blaise smirked. He tittered.

"You wouldn't want it. There's Squirt in it." Draco wrinkled his nose delicately.

"Squirt? No thank you. I'll stay dehydrated." I agreed, nodding like a bobblehead doll. "That's disgusting. Tastes terrible. Tinkle?" He said, walking over to a secluded corner of the room.

**_Crack. _**A house elf wearing clean white dress with the Malfoy Crest appeared. "Tinkle, may I have eight glasses of ice chocolate? With a straw in them, please?" Tinkle nodded fervently.

"Tinkle will be right back, sir. Would Master Draco like anything else?" Tinkle squeaked, looking at us. We all shook our heads. Tinkle curtseyed quickly and disappeared with a snap.

I turned to Draco, surprised.

"You freed your house elves!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around him happily. I could hear Harry and Ginny groaning about S.P.E.W. "I'm so proud of you, Draco!" He snickered.

"Yes, we freed our house elves after the war. Mother's in charge of the house elves, she gives them new uniforms and 100 galleons a month each. My old house elves refused to be paid; they think it's an honour to serve us. Every week, we have tea with them." I squealed, hugging Draco.

"That's wonderful!" He grinned.

"Just like me?" I poked him in the stomach playfully.

"If I say yes, your head will swell up and be so heavy it will fall off." Everyone laughed, but Luna curiously flapped at Draco's head.

"If you say yes, Pifflesnaps will gather around Draco's head and disturb his thinking." said Luna seriously. "That's called the Pifflesnap Syndrome. You can ward it off with the Muggle deodorant Axe. I understand why they hate the smell." I laughed at this. "However, they people with swollen egos, and will hang around them." She saw the weird looks we were giving her, and quickly explained. "They're invisible." I snorted. _Luna and her weird animals_. "Related to Wrackspurts, of course. They eat mistletoe, and despise holly berries—"

**_Crack._** Tinkle was back, with two other house elves, Lucy and Drakie. I raised my brows. Seems like Cissa named these two after her husband and son.

"Tinkle has drinks, sir!" squeaked Tinkle, looking pleased with herself. "Tinkle put extra cocoa powder and a shot of peppermint, sir!" I smiled. I loved the smell of mint! Especially peppermint. But mint in hot chocolate…?

"Try it. You'll love it!" Draco promised, carefully picking up my mug. He handed it to me. "I experimented with different flavours for over a month, and this is my own invention." Blaise and Teddy were already sipping away, making little moans of happiness. I cautiously picked up the mug. "Take a little sip, and tell me what you think of it." Harry and Ginny were busy picking out the marshmallows and chomping them down. Ginny loved marshmallows, as I found out last summer. We had taken a visit to a Muggle sweetshop, and she had grabbed all the bags of marshmallows available, surprising the elderly cashier with five Galleons. I had immediately said she was foreign, from Genovia, and replaced the money with proper pounds. The elderly lady must have been quite senile, as Genovia wasn't a real place, it was from the series of books 'The Princess Diaries'. The old woman smiled, and took the pounds. Very weird.

I sniffed the mug. The smells of sharp peppermint flooded my nose. The marshmallows bobbed around in the thick brown liquid, like ships in the sea. I heard an undignified slurping sound coming from someone behind me. Luna and Cho were glugging down the chocolate. I sighed. Well. Time to try it.

I lifted the mug to my lips, slowly tasting the chocolate. The sweet taste of chocolate, combined with crisp peppermint, washed over my taste buds.

It was like heaven.

Stars seemed to pop beside my head, while I was still standing. A delightful sense of warmth trickled through my body, making me slightly shiver.

"It's amaaazzingg." I breathed. I quickly chugged down half the mug of chocolate. Draco chuckled.

"I told you so. Everything about me is Amazing with a capital A." I shook my head disapprovingly.

"The Pifflesnaps, Draco, the Pifflesnaps!" I scolded him humorously. He laughed.

"Don't tell me you believe Luna?!" I giggled, catching a sight of myself in a sheet of ice. I had a rather large chocolaty moustache. Grabbing a tissue from a nearby waiter, Draco dabbed daintily at my upper lip. "There, all done." Ginny had finished her hot chocolate, and was scurrying over to me. The female population of the ball were leaving through a set of large doors at the back of the hall. Weird.

"Hermione! Don't you remember? The gown change!" I suddenly remembered. Every three hours, everyone would change their clothes. The first one was at 6, when we came in, then at 9, and the last one was at 12, right before the fireworks. "Come on, we'll have no space-"

"No need to rush, Ginny." Draco assured her. "Mother said we can change in my rooms." He winked at me. "Of course, we can take turns, but if you prefer changing _together_, I have no problem with that..." I stomped on his foot, eliciting a squeal from him. "I was just kidding, Hermione!" Blaise chuckled.

"How wonderful, you two are arguing like an old married couple already." He said dryly. I mock glared at him and stuck my nose in the air.

"It's not like I didn't see you all googly eyed at Cho earlier." Blaise turned bright pink as Teddy snickered. "Anyway, let's get a move on. We do have to change, right?" Draco nodded and led us away.

**(A/N) Haiiii guys! Gimme reviews and ideas for the next chappie please? What should Draco/Hermione wear next? Should anything "big" happen? Tell me! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**Dr****aco POV**

Our footsteps echoed as we walked through the halls. Ice surrounded us on every side, some places cloudy, and some places clear. Hermione twined her hand with mine.

"Draco, this looks completely different to the Manor." she whispered. I smiled.

"Which Manor?" Hermione looked puzzled.

"You have more than two Manors?" she looked shocked. I smirked. Thank goodness I was pureblood.

"I currently own four Manors, two castles, three mansions, five holiday houses, one palace with extremely large grounds, larger than Hogwarts." I proudly proclaimed. Theo snorted behind me.

"That's only because your father beat mine in a game of chess that you have an extra holiday house." I chuckled.

"I remember that. Good thing your father was drunk, though." Theo sighed.

"That's another fine house I won't have in my possession, then." Blaise laughed good humouredly.

"If you're nice, I'll donate you a dingy hovel. It won't be much different to your usual houses—" Theo leaned over and whacked Blaise on the head. "What, I'm just being honest. Actually, I'm being very generous with my compliments today—"

"Twat." Theo poked Blaise in the side.

"Idiot," Blaise responded.

"At least you guys have 'at least' one house," Ginny sighed. I turned.

"Wasn't your mother descended from the Prewetts?" I enquired. Harry looked surprised. Ginny nodded. "Then isn't the Prewett Palace your's?" Ginny gasped, and her eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah, I remember! Mum is the last descendant, the relatives on her side are all… dead and she's the closest remainder, so she's the heir! Gramps must have died before writing a will, that's why our uncles died in a duel!"

"Actually, Ginny, your uncles were fighting over—"Luna interrupted.

"No, they must have fought over the house!" Ginny pushed. Cho coughed slightly.

"Malfoy, are we there yet?" I grabbed a key from my pocket.

"Here we are!" I pressed the peculiar looking key onto a designated place in a painting, which then displayed a set of numbers I needed to press in order for a Muggle machine to appear, which scanned my eyes, matching them with the data provided, to open the door.

"Mate, you really have tightened security, have you?" Blaise stared down at the machine in shock. "Muggle things too! You have changed, from refusing to step into 'Dirty' Muggle London, to using Muggle machines." I laughed, remembering a time that I believed in that pureblood-over-mudblood nonsense.

"Well, we all believed in that Mudblood-prejudice bullshit," I said as the door slowly opened.

"You were the one who called Granger 'Mudblood' first." Theo drawled, slipping off his tie and loosening his collar. "And you called her more names than us two put together."

The girls squealed when they saw my room. I smiled. I had missed this place. In this room, I had charmed it so I could see perfectly out of the ice, but nobody could see into my room. Delicate chandeliers, all one of a kind and made out of never melting icicles, hung from different places. But the most exciting thing, according to what Hermione said later, was a triple king size, in other words, a Draco size bed in the middle of the room. I had equipped this with the fluffiest of pillows and the warmest of puffy blankets, as I always cast cooling charms until I was freezing, and slept under my warm blanket. It was the only way I could sleep.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hermione ran towards the bed and bounced on it. Ginny giggled. "I feel so tall now!" She added, touching the ceiling when she jumped. Lovegood walked over to the display cabinet. Mother thought that I should some sculptures in there, and bought quite a few ice, snow, and diamond sculptures. They glittered, catching our attention.

"Oh look!" Lovegood exclaimed dreamily. She was pointing at the first sculpture. "A model of a Ringed Snorkax!" I rolled my eyes.

"No, that's a sculpture of Newt Scamander." I said dryly.

Cho snickered, pointing at a bunch of framed photos.

"Malfoy, is that you?" A weird sense of déjà vu came to me. Yes, that was what Hermione said to me when she discovered me. I looked at her and smiled. She was waiting for my reaction, and blew a kiss to me.

"Yes, that's me," I drew out my wand and put away the photos. "Don't look, I'm ugly." I added cheerfully. Blaise and Theo leaned on the wall, looking rather bored.

"When are we going to bloody change?" Blaise complained. I remembered.

"Can't we play on your bed a bit longer?" Hermione pouted. Harry guffawed.

"Hermione, I'm not going to let that happen to you that quickly." Hermione mock glared at him and sniffed, faking hurt.

"OK then, girls and girls." Theo came over and 'subtly' kicked me in the shin. "Fine. Girls can change in the dressing room, because I know you need the mirror and whatever, and we boys can change in the bathroom. Your dresses and makeup are already in the rooms." The girls quickly thanked me and walked towards the room, chattering quietly about what they were going to wear. I faced the boys. "Well, we best get going, ladies!"

**Hermione POV**

"Hurry, hurry!" Ginny ushered us into the room. "We don't have much time." Cho nodded.

"I'll do the hair, Ginny, you do the makeup." Cho grabbed her purple silk dress from the rack. "Hermione, you can do the accessorising, Luna help me wear this stupid skinny dress!" We snapped to attention, wriggling out of our dresses and removing the makeup.

"Gin, can you do up the back of my dress?" I turned my back to Ginny. She immediately zipped it up, spritzing my hair with hairspray at the same time. It had been put down for the previous costume, now I intended to put it up into an elegant French Twist, with a few tendrils of hair escaping.

"Hermione, Hermione! Which necklace should I wear?" Cho asked, rummaging through her jewellery box. There were a few amulets and charms, some strings of pearls, a diamond neckpiece… aha!

"Wear this!" I grabbed a simple silver chain necklace that had three amethysts on it. The purple jewels glittered under the light, and seemed to pulse with energy.

"Oooh, that's pretty!" Luna exclaimed distantly. "What about this for me?" she asked, picking up a yellow and black necklace. I shook my head. Luna was wearing a GREEN mermaid dress, for goodness's sake. I grabbed a green pearl choker.

"This! THIS. It's pretty." I thrust it at her, looking at the leftover jewelry. What should I wear? Ginny had already chosen a necklace with diamonds, and was moving on to her hair. Should I wear this sapphire neckpiece? Nah, that was totally not me. A string of black pearls? Ew. No. A necklace spelling D-O-B-B-Y? Definitely not.

And then, I suddenly saw the most beautiful thing. Ever.

A golden chain suspending a gold, ruby studded 'G'. I immediately picked it up and held it against my neck.

"What a pretty necklace!" The mirror said, excited. "What about those matching earrings?" I slowly picked up a pair of rubies dangling from a gold stud by a golden chain. They matched my necklace and dress, and if I hadn't bought them from different shops in different times, I would think they were from the same outfit!

"That's beautiful!" we all squealed, looking at each other's dresses. "Now makeup and hair!" I cried, taking up the hairbrush. I grabbed a bunch of bobby pins with rubies on the end, and set them ready.

Mom had taught me how to do this hairstyle last summer. Apparently, it was how she wore her hair in her first prom. Every boy in the year had asked to dance with her, but she declined everyone except for her date, saying that if they didn't realize her beauty before she put on makeup and jewelry, they weren't worth dancing with, no matter how handsome, smart or rich they were. That was the exact thing I had told Ron after Yule Ball.

However, my hair dressing skills were really bad, and I preferred to use magic.

Waving my wand, I watched my reflection as my hair lifted and twisted itself. I sprayed the sides of the twist with Extra Stark hairspray, and admired my work.

"Bloody hell, who could have thought of the day that we would be here, in a Malfoy estate, primping ourselves!?" Ginny squeaked, raking a hand through her dark red hair. "I thought we would always spend Christmas at the Burrow." I agreed.

"Who knew that Draco's friends would turn on him, and leave him in my care? And who could guess that he could be so cute?" I smiled at the memory of ferret Draco cheeping. Luna and Cho suddenly sprayed me with perfume. I sniffed.

"What's this? Is this," I sniffed again "Merlin's pants, did you buy the…New Parchment perfume?" I hugged Luna and Cho happily.

"Yeah. I remember how you described the Amortenia Potion in Sixth year, the smell of new parchment, peppermint and freshly cut grass. Actually, everyone knows that now, because La Élégance is making three new perfume collections; Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger. They already announced they were making three perfumes each, and rumour has it that the first perfume smells exactly like how each of you smell Amortenia. The second smells like your favourite surroundings, e.g. the library, the Quidditch Pitch and Hogwarts, and the last smells of your character." Cho smiled. "Be ready for a bunch of people who smell exactly like you; kind, caring, smart, attractive but scary at times…" We all laughed, thinking about walking on the street and seeing that—no, _smelling _that everyone smelt like me. Cho stopped laughing first, remembering what we had to do.

"Come on, make up!" I immediately grabbed my eyeliner pencil and started to slowly outline my eye. _Remember what that video on Youtube said, _I thought. _Make the wings of your eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man. _Luna painted her lips with lip gloss dreamily, using her wand for fine details. Ginny borrowed my mascara, putting it on carefully. The room was so quiet, you could hear everyone's breaths clearly. Ginny's hand trembled. She groaned and tried again. On the fifth try, she gave up.

"Fuck it!" she said, capping the mascara and setting it on the table powerfully, making the makeup stuff jump. "How Muggles do this every day, I'll never know nor understand." I finished my thin eyeliner, admiring the thin line.

"Do you want me to help?" I asked her. She nodded quickly. "The mascara goes ON the eyelashes, not on the tip." I completed it. "Yeah, that's about it." Ginny looked in the mirror and smiled. Now what should I do next?

_Ferrari red lipstick would go together with my dress_, I thought, fingering the lipstick box. _But it's too…vivid._ I opened the box, and saw a range of lipstick colours, ranging from pale pink and rose red, to completely crazy colours like lime green, lemon yellow, neon orange, chocolate, cyan… it was really weird, but in rainbow order.

"Kraash Red will suit you," Luna smiled, seeing my indecision. "It's not too bright but not too dull. And it will catch everyone's' eyes. Especially Blaise's cousins. They're cute." She giggled, puckering her lips to see her work.

"Isn't it a bit… queer, to be thinking about other guys while going out with someone?" I asked quietly. Luna snorted, which was completely unlike her.

"You seriously think I like Theo?!" Seeing all of us nod, she snickered. "Ha! I met Theo in Sixth Year when we had to pair up in Divination. I found him pretty funny, so I became friends with him. He's nice, really; he's good to talk to, and understands me. But we really bonded when he fell sick last year. At first, he didn't trust the power of my Dirgible Plums," I rolled my eyes, "But in the end, he gave in and drank it. And guess what? _He got better_." Luna smiled dreamily.

"So no," Cho snapped her fingers, "No instant connection in between you two?" Luna shook her head.

"After this, I'll be going back to Neville's house to stay with him." We oohed, raising our eyebrows and nudging her in the ribs. "What?! I'm not going to have sex with him! We only got to first base!" We laughed, almost smudging our makeup.

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* * *

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**Draco POV**

"Mate, when are the girls coming out?" Theo checked the clock on the wall. "We have five minutes until our cue!" He pulled at his dark green suit. "I didn't dress up to wait in your room!" Murmurs came from the girls' room, and a few exclamations of "You're fine" and "That's beautiful!" drifted towards us. Blaise lay on the bed, not afraid of creasing his black silk suit at all.

"Yeah. Girls?" He raised his voice. "You guys done yet?" Harry twirled his wand in his hand, throwing sparks everywhere. He pulled at his stiff Muggle suit, coughing when a spark hit his throat. The door creaked open slowly.

Cho was the first to step out. She slowly walked around, her purple mermaid dress flaring fashionably at the bottom. I could hear Blaise gasp audibly as he took notice of the long slit at the side of the dress.

"Cho...you're beautiful..." He said, standing up and taking her hand. "You are fucking—" Cho cut him off with a kiss. I smirked. Perhaps this was Blaise's 'One and Only'.

A swish of fabric alerted us to Luna's arrival. A mermaid gown in green, accentuating her curves, complimented her hair.

"Bloody hell, Luna. We look like an actual couple," Theo said, his voice hoarse. He put his arm around her waist, and waited for the other two girls. I tapped my foot impatiently.

Ginny came out next. She wore a floaty black evening gown, matched with a pair of onyx earrings and a diamond necklace. I humphed. Seemed like Harry was rich, after all.

"Beautiful as always, Gin." He said kissing her softly. I rolled my eyes.

"Hermione! When are you going to be done?" I called out, tapping my feet. There was a swish of fabric and she stepped out.

Woah.

She had outdone herself this time.

If I had thought her beautiful before, she was RAVISHING now. Like an angel.

An angel on fire.

Her red and gold dress was in the style of a ball gown. She looked like one of the princesses of old, ready to see a suitor. She kept her hair up in a twist, a few curls escaping. _Good. That's perfect so you can kiss her neck. And give her a hickey or two,_ A voice within me said. I squashed it down.

A gold 'G', studded with rubies, hung from her slender neck, completely matching her earrings. Even the most pretentious fashion designer (Mother made me watch Project Runway because it was TOTALLY interesting) would have to call her amazing. Better than any model.

"Draco?" she looked worried. "Do I look alright?" I chuckled.

"Alright? No. Of course not. You look like a princess, Hermione." I curled my arm around her waist. "Well, come on now, the party is waiting!"


End file.
